Analysis Of Coming Of Age In Mississippi By Anne Moody

The autobiography “Coming of age in Mississippi” by Anne Moody, take place in the spring of 1963 in Mississippi. During this time, Anne Moody was a student at Natchez College, it was her final year there. But because of some credit problem, she was not able to graduate. She wasn’t mad about not graduating instead she was happy because had an excuse to stay on the campus for the summer and work with the movement. On campus Moody was involved in a organization called NAACP.

The book “The Coming of Age in Mississippi” is a well written autobiography by Anne Moody herself. It tells the story of how black people were treated after the Civil War of 1861-1865. Although black people were given freedom through the 13th, 14th and 15th constitutional amendments, white people still made sure that the black people do not get an equal right that is why they made the Jim Crow laws; the racial segregation laws enacted in United States between the years 1876-1965. The book is divided in different chapters in Anne Moody’s life: childhood, high school, college and the movement.

A Glimmer of Hope “I WONDER, I really WONDER” (Allen 289), these were the last words Anne Moody wrote in her famous autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi. In her autobiography Moody, an African American girl, reflects on her personal experiences with segregation during her lifetime. Throughout the story she shares her personal accounts on when she began to realize the difference between her and the white people around her. At a young age Moody struggled to understand why she wasn’t allowed to use the same bathroom as the white people and why her and her family couldn’t be in the downstairs lobby of the theatre. Throughout her Autobiography she shows both glimmers of hope along with more frequent glimmers of despair.

In the book Coming of Age in Mississippi, author Anne Moody tells her life story growing up in the American South and how her experiences lead to her becoming a civil rights activist during the Civil Rights Movement. She grew up on a plantation, in a community of sharecroppers. Her parents worked as sharecroppers, and after her father left the family with another woman, Anne, her mother, and her siblings move to various houses in six years. While her mom got a waitress and maid job, their family still suffered in poverty. They usually ate food such as bread and beans, which Toosweet brought home from the restaurant.

Nearly half a century later Anne Moody’s autobiography remains a noted volume in the library for describing inequality suffered by African Americans in her

Moody’s Final Despair In the autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody (1968) she ends the story with Essie saying “I WONDER. I really WONDER” (289). In doing this, it is left up to the reader to decide whether or not Essie is hopeful or doubtful about what is to come in the future. After reading the book and finding several instances where Essie witnesses the bad in both white and black people and expresses her hate for both races, it is concluded that the prevailing sentiment is despair towards what the future has to hold for African Americans in the state of Mississippi.

The 1940’s was defined as a time of segregation, meaning that growing up as a person of colour during the 1940’s was extremely difficult. However, the book Emancipation Day written by Wayne Grady ,sheds light on the perspective of a light skinned young man named Jackson Lewis who is born into an African American family that is black. Throughout the novel, William Henry who is the father of Jackson Lewis, is in extreme disbelief that Jackson is his son. The author conveys the development of William’s character by attempting to get him to accept that Jackson is his child despite the fact that his skin tone differs from his own. We see his growth when we see him try to stop isolating him since Jackson is born to William trying to help Jackson

Identification and Evaluation of Sources Anne McCarty Braden, a daughter of the white South in perhaps the truest sense, was one of the greatest and most under-acknowledged civil rights activists of the 1950s and 60s. The reporter represented a changing view in the South towards segregation and social revolution beyond her time. How did Anne Braden’s perspective as a white, southern woman affect her role in the Civil Rights movement?

Biracial and silenced: The Cultural Influences of Natasha Trethewey’s Childhood within her Poetry Natasha Trethewey, undoubtedly one of the most well-known southern modern contemporary poets often expresses her feelings of poetry, stating, “I think there is a poem out there for everyone, to be an entrance into the poetry and a relationship with it” (LeGro). Trethewey began writing as a child, and uses poetry to convey an untold story from her culture. Trethewey was born on April 26, 1966 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Her parents, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough and Eric Trethewey, were both prestigious workers in the community as a biracial couple. Trethewey’s childhood during the twentieth century was unlike any childhood during the twenty-first century.

While growing up in segregated segregated Mississippi, Anne Moody underwent significant personal private struggles. Whether the struggles related to her poor family life or fear of just being black, Moody eventually overcame the obstacles. She strived for perfection in her work at school and at jobs. This engaged mentality taught Moody to never back down from a challenge, even if the end looks bleak. Violence in different forms circulated around Moody all her life, most of which included watching others perpetrate violence on blacks solely for their skin color.

Racism was always a big issue and still occurs today. The story “Passing” took place in the 1920’s during the Harlem Renaissance and it spoke about the term “Passing” which indicates that African American’s who looked lighted skin can go to public places without being discriminated. In “Passing” Nella Larsen demonstrates how racism causes jealousy, resentment, and dishonesty in relationships. The idea is conveyed through inner conflict, the conflict between the main characters and how the Harlem Renaissance period inflicts tension in relationships.

1920’s society offered a prominent way for blacks that look white to exploit its barrier and pass in society. Visible within Nella Larsen’s Passing, access to the regular world exists only for those who fit the criteria of white skin and white husband. Through internal conflict and characterization, the novella reveals deception slowly devours the deceitful. In Passing, Clare and Irene both deceive people. They both engage in deceit by having the ability to pass when they are not of the proper race to do so.

Stereotypes have changed throughout history. Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” uses stereotypes to develop characters and set a realistic setting. Bambara sets her story in the rural South in the United States of America. With a house near some woods, Granny, Granddaddy Cain, and a group of their relatives enjoy a private life away from white people. In this time period, during the civil right movement, there was a distrust between the African-American community and the white people.

In the last paragraph on pg. 220 of Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, she talks about her fears that she has encountered throughout her life. I chose this passage because I felt that it was relevant to the story, because she discussed some of her fears throughout the story and how she might have overcame them. Coming of Age in Mississippi is about the author’s own personal experiences and encounters as an African American girl growing up during the time of segregation and the pre Civil Rights movement. She has faced many hardships as a young child because she was African American, but the one that sort of lead her to fight for her rights, in my opinion, was the death of Emmett Till. “Emmett Till was a young African American boy, fourteen to be exact, and some white men murdered him.

The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.